#i will continue this series based of whagever prompts you guys send me lmao

[onetimetwotimesthreetimess]

now magnus make alec believe he cant pursue long term romance alec just gonna turn to short term one night stand

// This is part II. Read part I here.

They decide 8 pm for dinner but it’s 9:30 already and Alec is nowhere to be seen.

Jace smirks knowingly while Izzy hides behind a sympathetic smile.

Magnus tries not to groan internally at how obvious the Lightwood siblings are. It’s not like anyone is actively trying to hide this from Magnus, not that anyone possibly could—considering how public Alec is with his new found obsession.

With one-night stands.

It’s so unlike Alec that the first time Magnus heard of it, he almost believed that Alec is possessed. Magnus even goes so far as to check Alec’s entire body to see if someone has cursed him.

But that’s not the case.

Alec is doing this completely out of his own choice.

And Magnus can’t blame him. It’s his stupid fuxking plan to ruin all of Alec’s date that has led Alec to this.

God, he’s a fucking idiot.

It’s 9:45 when Alec finally arrives at Taki’s for their dinner.

“Hi, sorry I got stuck with something,” he apologises the second he arrives.

Clary and Simon grin like kids because they are.

“Stuck with something or someone?” Jace quips and Alec hides a blush.

Magnus winces at the words and stares at his glass of wine. He orders another bottle—for himself.

“Shut up and eat,” Alec hits Jace on the shoulder, lightly.

It’s not that Alec is hiding this from specifically but it makes sense—it’s weird if Alec is open about this to him.

Nephilim only love once. I’ve had my one Magnus. It doesn’t get better than that.

That was four months ago and Magnus can still feel the soft touch on his cheeks. It’s the last time Alec has been close to him and every part of Magnus aches and wants to rip itself apart.

He loves Alec so much.

And Magnus misses him more than he can ever love him.

It’s just cruel how this is happening to them—not that Magnus thinks there’s a them left.

It’s just Alec and his string of hook-ups and both of their broken hearts.

The dinner continues with laughter and stupid jokes from all of them.

“I could have easily taken that hoard of demons,” Clary states.

“Stop talking like Jace,” Simon reprimands her.

Alec gets lost somewhere in this conversation before Izzy nudges him.

“You okay?” She asks worriedly.

Alec nods.

“When are you going to stop doing this?”

The conversation isn’t meant for anyone but the two siblings but Magnus can’t do anything but eavesdrop.

“Do what?”

“These stupid hook-ups. This isn’t you, Alec.”

Alec lets out a dry laugh. “This is me, now.”

“Alec—“

“Would you rather I be alone for the rest of my life?”

Izzy’s face contorts in pain and she whispers, “Are you telling me that you’re not alone, right now?”

Something flashes in Alec’s eyes and he looks at Magnus.

They look into each other’s eyes for some time and all Magnus wants is to keep on doing that.

Alec looks exactly like he used to and completely different at the same time.

There’s something so unhinged about him—like he’s given up, stopped caring.

Not about other people. But about himself.

It breaks Magnus’s heart in two.

“I tried the dating thing. It did not work out, Iz. What more do you want from me?” Alec pleads.

Izzy turns and glares at him then.

Fuck.

She knows.

She knows that Magnus is behind the failed dates.

“Those guys sucked Alec. You dodged a bullet right there,” she says instead of telling him the truth and it leaves Magnus baffled.

She stops Magnus when they’re all leaving.

“Fix this.”

He takes three seconds to decide if he should pretend he has no idea what she’s talking about but he fails.

“Fix what?”

“Fix my brother’s heart.”

He wants to scoff because Alec’s heart is Magnus’s heart.

They are the same thing to him.

They are both hurting currently.

“I don’t know how-to.”

Izzy glares. “How about you start by telling him that you fucked up the dates and that he’s not unlovable.”

Magnus looks down, ashamed. “Why haven’t you told him, if you know?”

Her face softens at that, “because I know you. I know you got hurt by Alec. But I also know that you’re not doing this to hurt him back.”

He himself doesn’t know why he’s doing this.

“Why do you think I did it then?”

“Because you love him. And you’re an idiot,” Izzy says simply.

He opens his mouth to say something but stops mid-way.

He wants Alec back but for some reason he can’t

They both love each—there’s no doubt about it.

But he doesn’t know if he can trust Alec again. Or even himself.

He’s not sure if he will be able to be more honest and open with Alec this time around—centuries of habit is not easy to break.

And Alec deserves better.

They deserve better.

“I can’t.” He tells Isabelle, and gets so much disappointed in return.

Magnus gets it.

He is disappointed in himself too.